Vata Season
Cool mornings, cardigans, warm tea, pumpkin spice……I LOVE everything about this time of year! As a pitta my whole system breathes a sigh of relief when those first cool breezes of fall blow in. My nervous system lets down a little, and the light quality of vata takes over as if a weight has just been blown off of my shoulders by that cool breeze.
In Ayurveda we call this vata season. Fall through early winter shares the gunas (qualities) of vata dosha. Light, dry, mobile, rough, and irregular are just some of the qualities that come to mind when I think about vata. The way the air all of a sudden lightens up, the humidity vanishes, the leaves flutter through the air like summer’s butterflies and crunch underfoot on the sidewalks — these are all visible signs of vata’s qualities. The way it’s crisp and cool one day, and almost summer-like the next is vata’s irregularity.
The liminal space between seasons is always refreshing but Ayurveda teaches us not to let our guard down lest we accumulate the gunas of the season. Without care and mindfulness vata season can leave us spacey, dried out, and irregular. The transition in seasons requires a transition in our daily lifestyle and routines as well. This is the time to say bye-bye to your raw salads at lunch and instead opt for warm, moist and nourishing foods like soups, stews, and steamed vegetables.
To counter vata’s irregularity establish a rhythm to your day with supportive and nourishing routines. Read more about daily routines (dinacharya) to help you get started. Two of my favorite vata pacifying routines are nasya oil to protect my nasal passages from vata’s dryness, and abhyanga to protect my skin.
Another quality of the vata season is lightness, which can show up as feeling untethered or ungrounded. It’s important to keep regular movement as part of our day, but including some time to be still in restorative yoga, yin yoga, yoga nidra, or meditation can help you stay rooted and grounded.
As we complete this transition and land firmly in the embrace of vata watch for any shifts in your mood, energy levels or digestion and employ Ayurveda’s principle of opposites to move back toward equilibrium.
